The arrival of this
performance for review initially stirred
conflicting emotions. First frustration,
that with a clutch of Rossini operas
unrecorded, here was another Bianca
e Falliero when there was already
a very fine studio
recording from Opera Rara.
There was also a previous live
recording from Pesaro with Marilyn Horne,
albeit no longer available. My second
emotion, although more pensive, was
one of anticipation. In the 1980s it
was via recorded performances made at
the Pesaro Festival that it was possible
to hear some of Rossini’s opera seria.
Those that did appear, such as the previous
Bianca and also La Donna del
Lago and La gazza ladra amongst
others, came about from arrangements
between the Festival and CBS/Sony. Since
that arrangement died recordings from
the Festival have been rare. They have
mainly come about when artists contracted
to the likes of Universal have been
involved, as was the case with DG and
Le Comte Ory from 2003 involving
Juan Diego Florez. Regrettably there
has been no sign of a recording of him
as Corradino in Matilda di Shabran
from the 2004 Festival. This was
the role that brought the tenor to world
attention when he was parachuted into
Pesaro at short notice in 1996. If this
recording of Bianca e Falliero presages
an arrangement that will mean more recordings
from the Festival on the Italian label
Dynamic then I look forward with great
anticipation to major gaps in the Rossini
discography being filled. All the more
so when Dynamic have such an excellent
record of taking down live performances
in Italy. The 2005 Festival included
concert performances of La gazzetta
whilst the 2006 has Adelaide
di Borgogna and Torvaldo e Dorliska
scheduled. None of those three has
a recording currently easily available,
although a recording of the latter from
Bad Wildbad is supposed to be ‘in the
can’ at Naxos as I indicated in my Rossini
conspectus (LINK).
Bianca e Falliero
is the thirtieth in the 39 titles in
the Rossini operatic oeuvre. It was
the composer’s fourth opera of 1819
and was written to a commission from
La Scala, Milan, to open the Festival
Season on 26 December of that year.
Given that pace of composition, which
the composer was never to repeat, it
sports remarkably few self-borrowings.
The first night audience were generally
enthusiastic and the work was given
a further 39 performances that season,
the longest run ever for any Rossini
opera seria at La Scala. It went on
to be staged throughout Italy and was
presented in Vienna and Lisbon, in 1825,
and Barcelona in 1826. It was revived
at La Scala in 1831 in a butchered form
and after performances in Sardinia in
1846 it disappeared only being heard
again in semi-staged performances at
the Pesaro in 1986. Like the previous
recordings this one uses the Critical
Edition by Gabrielle Dotto based on
the autograph full score of 1819.
The libretto for Bianca
e Falliero was provided by Felice
Romani (1788-1865), the leading librettist
at La Scala. He based Bianca e Falliero
on the French melodrama ‘Blanch
et Montcasin’ by Arnault. However, mindful
of the Milan censors, and in contrast
to Arnault’s play, Romani provided a
happy ending. The story is set in 17th
century Venice in a period of conflict
with Spain. Contareno (tenor) a Senator
and harsh and unbending parent of Bianca
(soprano), arranges her marriage to
another Senator Capellio (bass). By
doing so he hopes to restore his family
finances and prestige. Bianca is in
love with Falliero (mezzo) the Venetian
general who has helped defeat the Spanish.
She also knows that her father might
not approve their marriage as Falliero
is not wealthy. This is proved to be
correct as her father warns her that
she will forfeit his love if she ever
uses Falliero’s name. Unhappily, Bianca
submits to his threats. In the conclusion
to the first act Falliero returns to
Contareno’s house to declare his love
for Bianca while her intended husband,
Capellio, looks on at her plight as
her father berates her. Both men order
Falliero from the house. In act 2 Falliero
returns to Contareno’s house to meet
Bianca and pleads with her to elope
with him. On Contareno’s return he is
forced to flee over the wall into the
garden of the adjacent villa of the
Spanish Ambassador where he is caught
and accused of treason. Falliero is
put on trial before The Council of Three
that includes both Bianca’s father and
her intended husband. Falliero considers
himself lost but Bianca comes before
the Council to explain his presence
in the Ambassador’s house. In the famous
quartet that outlived the demise of
the opera in the 19th century, Bianca
pleads for Falliero. Contareno demands
the death penalty whilst the compassionate
Capellio insists the matter be referred
to the full Senate where Falliero is
acquitted. At the insistence of Capellio,
Bianca’s father accedes to her marriage
to Falliero.
This present performance
from Pesaro, unlike its predecessor,
must be seen in comparison, and even
competition, with that from Opera Rara,
the only studio recording of the work.
It is in vivid and reliable sound and
enjoys an excellent balance between
soloists, chorus and orchestra. Whilst
David Parry’s conducting on the Opera
Rara issue is nicely judged between
the vivaciously lyric and the dramatic,
his feel for the action and its musical
realisation is matched by Renato Palumbo
although the latter loses impetus, in
the interests of his singers, on a couple
of minor occasions. Rossini certainly
made considerable technical demands
on three of his principal singers, particularly
on the role of Falliero sung here with
conviction and good expression by Daniela
Barcellona. Whilst her tone is not as
refulgent as Jennifer Larmore for Opera
Rara it is a dramatic interpretation
to savour. Her scene as Falliero greets
the Doge, Incito Prence ... Se
per l’Adria ... Il ciel custode,
is a pleasure on the ear (CD 1 trs.
7-9). Falliero also has the florid duets
with the Bianca of María Bayo
in both acts (CD 2 trs 2-5 and CD 3
trs 1-4) and dramatic involvement in
the extended trial scenes when he at
first refuses to plead his case (CD
3 trs. 11, 12 and 14-15). Barcellona
conveys these situations with intensity
and subtle variation of vocal colour
whilst encompassing, with ease, the
coloratura demands. Her performance
as Falliero is outstanding and is central
to the success of this recording. As
Bianca, María Bayo is equally
agile in the role’s high tessitura;
listen to the cavatina Come sereno
il di (CD 1 tr. 12). Only having
one solo does not indicate that Rossini
was letting his soprano off lightly,
the audience would expect more vocal
fireworks from the soprano diva than
that! These come in her duets with Falliero
and in the dramatic confrontations with
her domineering father Contareno (CD
1 trs. 16-18 and CD 3 trs 6-9). The
scenes between Bianca and her father
demand not only vocal agility but also
the expression of a wide variety of
emotions. Whilst Bayo lacks the seeming
ease of projection displayed in the
high lying florid passages of Majella
Cullagh for Opera Rara, she has greater
vocal colour for expressing the emotional
intensity and demands of the role. The
bad guy father is sung by the tenor
Francesco Meli. I had not heard him
previously and he is a welcome addition
to the Rossini tenor roster, having
ease in the higher tessitura and an
appropriate touch of metal in his tone
for the more dramatic and declamatory
passages. Carlo Lepore as the generous
Capellio is a little gruff at times
but not so as to spoil enjoyment.
Politicians are always
selling the virtues of choice. With
this recording lovers of Rossini’s works
now have that in respect of Bianca
e Falliero. Live performances always
seem to have an extra frisson, but have
the drawback of stage noise and the
intrusion of applause. Stage noise is
not intrusive here and the applause,
whilst enthusiastic, is not raucous.
This recording is welcome for its own
strengths as well as for the choice
it gives in an opera that was the last
Rossini wrote for La Scala and into
which he put great creativity.
Robert J. Farr
Chorus da Camera di Praga; Orchestra Sinfonica
de Galicia/Renato Palumbo 
